my goals qw(11a, 11b, 22, 33); for my $i ( 0 .. $#$sqldata ) { for my $j ( 0 .. $#goals ) { if ($sqldata->[$i]{'goal'} eq $goals[$j]) { $data$goals[$j]->[$ctr]{id} = $sqldata->[$i]{'id'}; $ctr++; } } }